12 hours is a long time, especially when you are working a very busy shift at a hospital as a nurse.
This can have a serious impact on the quality of care you provide to your patients and make you feel really run down – so is it even safe to allow nurses to work 12 hours straight?
Here, we are going to be taking a closer look at 12 hour shifts to see if they are really safe to do for both patients and nurses.
We will be taking a look at the risks and effects of 12 hour shifts, but also the benefits and reasons why they have become the norm for nurses.
Let’s get started!
Why Nurses Work 12 Hour Shifts
At first glance, the fact that nurses can be forced to work 12 hour shifts (and sometimes even longer!) seems outrageous.
The thing is that hospitals actually have a lot of reasons why they prefer to give nurses 12 hour shifts – so what are they?
Patient Safety Is Paramount
The main reason why hospitals defend 12 hour shifts for their nurses and other medical staff is to minimize patient handoffs.
Patient handoffs are when patients are handed over to the next medical staff on shift, and so all of their details relating to their issues are handed over.
This includes any medication they need, the dosage, symptoms they are experiencing, treatment they are being prepped for, the list goes on.
However, studies have found that over a third of patient handoffs are ‘unsuccessful’. This means that the more patient handoffs occur, the greater chances there are of mistakes being made or changes going undocumented.
Patients could miss taking their medication or be given the wrong dosage. As a result, the quality of patient care drops and this can put patients at serious risk.
So 12 hour shifts for nurses may actually be safer for patients – but there are other advantages to this that nurses can benefit from.
Benefits For Nurses
Some nurses prefer longer shifts as it means more days off per week. Rather than having to commute to work 5 days a week or more, nurses can divide their hours between 3 shifts and enjoy the remaining days of the week at home.
This gives them more time to relax, recover from their long shifts, and have more fun.
This advantage all comes down to preference as some nurses may prefer to work more but shorter shifts, while others prefer to tough out the 12 hour shifts so they can have more days free to spend however they choose.
So, for some nurses, 12 hour shifts are better to allow them to balance more time between their work and home lives.
Less commuting also means less to spend on gas, bus or train tickets, and car maintenance, so nurses can save a lot simply by working less but longer shifts.
Longer Hours, Longer In The Flow
Longer shifts are also proven to be better for increasing focus and getting things done compared to more, shorter shifts. We will touch on this point later because there are arguments against this.
But, there is also evidence to suggest that making nurses work longer shifts allows them to stay in the ‘flow’ for longer so they can focus more on their uninterrupted work.
Overall, both patients and nurses can benefit from 12 hour shifts. For patients, they are safer and at less risk of mistakes being made during the handoff periods, meaning that their quality of care is more consistent.
The Concerns Around 12 Hour Shifts For Nurses
No job is perfect but as a nurse, the downsides to the role can be seriously dangerous for both nurses and their patients.
As a result, a lot of people have raised concerns over 12 hour shifts for nurses and if they are actually the safest choice in the interest of both patients and nurses. So, what are their concerns?
The Fatigue Is Real
The huge, glaring issue with 12 hour shifts is the fact that working so hard for such a long period of time is going to fatigue nurses.
Nurses don’t sit around for those 12 hours – most nurses spend all of their shifts up on their feet, moving from one patient to the next, completing all kinds of tasks and giving treatment.
They rarely have time to sit down and rest. After all, patients need care and in some cases, speed is vital for keeping a patient alive!
While hardwork is expected for a nurse, 12 long hours of non stop work can result in serious fatigue. Nurses experience sore bodies, headaches, and serious mental strain from being overworked for such a long period of time.
Over time, these issues can develop into serious physical and mental conditions that pose a health risk to nurses including depression and anxiety (see also ‘12 Tips For Nurses To Deal With Pre And Postshift Anxiety‘).
So, 12 hour shifts may not be the safest idea for nurses. It puts them at serious risk of health and mental issues. The fact that these long shifts also vary in terms of time and days means that nurses lack a sense of stability to their lives.
One week, they would be working a 12 hour shift during the day but then two days later, work all night – and this can throw their sleep patterns out of sync.
As a result, a lot of nurses have serious concerns regarding their health.
Tired Nurses Make Mistakes
12 hour shifts are not only potentially dangerous to nurses, but also to their patients.
Nurses who are fatigued and overwhelmed after so many hours of hard work are more likely to make mistakes. In fact, one study found that nurses are 3 times more likely to make errors while working 12.5 hour shifts or longer.
So, the argument that 12 hour shifts are safer for patients because it reduces handoff errors? This is contradicted by the fact that tired nurses are more likely to also make mistakes because they are forced to work 12 hours.
This means that 12 hour shifts not only puts nurses at risk health-wise but they are more likely to make mistakes which can affect their patients’ quality of care. This can also result in fatal errors.
Final Thoughts
So, are 12 hour shifts safe for nurses and their patients?
Although there are reasons to support 12 hour shifts for nurses (see also ‘How To Survive A 12-Hour Nursing Shift? 6 Tips To Get You Through‘), there is piling evidence to argue otherwise. 12 hour shifts put nurses at risk for physical and mental health issues, plus they are more likely to make mistakes and reduce the quality of the care they provide due to their fatigue.
So, 12 hour shifts put both nurses and patients at risk – so why are they still happening?
Nurses are in short supply and so, every nurse is burdened with more duties and responsibilities than they can handle.
Short-staffed hospitals are forced to give their nurses longer shifts and some are encouraged to stay on and work more than 12 hours in a single shift.
This in turn causes burnout and fatigue with nurses, becoming a leading cause for them to quit, and so the vicious cycle continues.
So, although 12 hour shifts are dangerous, hospitals also have little choice but to follow this model due to a short supply of nurses.